Excerpt: Roriz Social Project, an old restroom redesigned by Pema studio, has the reconfiguration of three fundamental principles: the space functionality, the limited budget imposed and respect for the context, spirit and history of this place. The design has a monolithic granite washbasin, assumes an imposing form and translates the craftsmanship of working on stone.
Project Description
[Text as submitted by architect] “Roriz Social Project” take place to serve the population.
The study focused on the public use of sanitary facilities in need of urgent intervention. A previously degraded and dysfunctional space whose requalification is based on three fundamental principles: the space functionality, the limited budget imposed and respect for the context, spirit and history of this place.
The project entire development came from a clear functional problem, the access to a storage room, made through the entrance into the men’s toilets. In response to this problem, the project was developed around the creation of a single entrance into the building, which assumes itself as an extension of the public road to its interior and gives direct access to the storage room, it’s through this new “inner street” that the access to the men’s and women’s toilets is made.
The choice for the stabilized oxidized iron grid arises from the historical context of this old building, an old chain of this region which still remains the heavily oxidized grid in the small windows.
The monolithic granite washbasin, an abundant stone in this region, assumes an imposing form and translates the craftsmanship of working on stone, an art once common among the people of this place, currently in extinction.
Added to this all, is the will to do something contemporary, provocative and relaxed that can challenge the typical local public work paradigm.
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